Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

dark sky sites?

Carl*

Recommended Posts

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Posted
Posted

There is a great outfit called British Airways. They will fly you to the lovely California desert where you can drive out to a dark site in the Mojave desert or Joshua Tree Nat'l forest and have lovely skies almost 360 days a year. :) (Yes, even the mighty Mojave clouds over once in awhile!)

And for all you Nancys (like Mrs. Astra!) who just go all gooey over the color green -- well, just get over it. You can't see green in the dark anyways. ;)

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Polar Bear

Polar Bear

Posted
Posted
by north west uk i take you mean the highlands , try camping at the summit of the bealach nan bo .. its the high pass between lochcarron and applecross ...awsome ..;)

We down here in Lancashire call where we are the North West , whereas where you refer to is known to us down here as the West Highlands, and that is one steep road....

The Isle of Skye is pretty dark too....

You will struggle in most parts of the North West to get away from either sky glow, rain or cloud cover.

One reason I have sold my scopes and gone over to bins.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kirkster501

kirkster501

Posted
Posted

Went to see my brother in Denmark - about 40 miles West of Copenhagen where he lives in a very small village. Man, I never realized the sky could be so dark and the stars so bright. I lay on my back looking upwards and seriously felt I was falling (no i wasn't tanked up). Utterly amazing. To have a telescope under such circumstances must be an incredible experience. Will take it over next time when I get it.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites
klaatu

klaatu

Posted
Posted

I used to long for dark sites now I just long for clear skies. There was a brief glimps of the moon a 7am this morning. Forcast says cloudy into next week. I reckon that is three weeks without a gap in the cloud at all. Ah well my mother always said the fun was in the waiting .... perhaps North Africa is nearer than California....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bondred

Bondred

Posted
Posted

I have just started the hobby, but already I am constantly looking out for good spots to visit.

I am pretty lucky that I live in the countryside, I have several good places nearby that have very little or zero light pollution. The next step is getting the courage to pack up the scope and take it out to these places.

But that will come after I have learned to use it properly!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Patbloke

Patbloke

Posted
Posted

I'm a bit gutted with light pollution peeps! I went out last night to drop no 1 daughter off at her place and noticed beautiful clear skies with Orion lording the night sky...

However, I thought it might be a bit of a hassle driving out to the other side of Belbroughton where I usually rock up, so I decided to drive around a bit to see if I could find a decent place to park up and get the kit out... However, no joy!

I found a few places near Alvechurch only to find a variety of steamed up cars parked up (yes, you know who you are) and there wasn't any star gazing going on in those!

So my question is to anyone around the south of Birmingham - is there anywhere around where I could go park up safe and stay out all night to gaze?

Mick, I haven't checked your tip out yet

Link to comment
Share on other sites
saturn5

saturn5

Posted
Posted
by north west uk i take you mean the highlands , try camping at the summit of the bealach nan bo .. its the high pass between lochcarron and applecross ...awsome ..:)

Aye,the real North West is the place for dark skies,just look at the middle of Sutherland,miles and miles of nothing.Not the word we use to describe it but its not allowed on here.:evil6:No towns,no villages,just the odd croft.There are so many stars on view it takes a minute or two to get your bearings.Its supposed to have a LM of almost 8.Much darker than the much hyped Galloway Forest Park.Have been trying to get out there for the past 2 month for some astroscapes but the only clear skies have coincided with a full moon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
che guevara

che guevara

Posted
Posted
We down here in Lancashire call where we are the North West , whereas where you refer to is known to us down here as the West Highlands, and that is one steep road....

The Isle of Skye is pretty dark too....

You will struggle in most parts of the North West to get away from either sky glow, rain or cloud cover.

One reason I have sold my scopes and gone over to bins.

Paul

You live in the North West of ENGLAND, but you live in the middle of the UNITED KINGDOM ( Which you specificaly refered to in your

post )

The Uk and ENGLAND are not the same thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hair bear

Hair bear

Posted
Posted

Bealach-Na-Ba? Sea level up to 2,200ft and down to sea level in 12 miles. Scares the hell out of me driving up there in daylight, doing it in the dark would need bicycle clips.

The top of Hardknott pass in Cumbria is good too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NeutrinoWave

NeutrinoWave

Posted
Posted

Dark-sky preserve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you were really confused with Exmoor being nominated as a 1st given Galloway was Dark Status a few years back.

BBC News - Exmoor National Park is Europe's first dark sky reserve

There's a subtle difference somewhere waiting to be explained ie difference between a Dark Sky

[1] Park

[2] Community

[3] Preserve

[4] Reserve

Anyone care to shed some light on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
saturn5

saturn5

Posted
Posted
Dark-sky preserve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you were really confused with Exmoor being nominated as a 1st given Galloway was Dark Status a few years back.

BBC News - Exmoor National Park is Europe's first dark sky reserve

There's a subtle difference somewhere waiting to be explained ie difference between a Dark Sky

[1] Park

[2] Community

[3] Preserve

[4] Reserve

Anyone care to shed some light on this?

Dont think they want any light shed on it;):)

Pretty much half of Scotland and virtually all of the Highlands has darker skies than Exmoor,Maybe there should be a campaign for a Scottish Highlands Dark Sky Park.The biggest in europe,easy access:evil6:,guaranteed clear skies:evil6:,midgy free:evil6::).In the case of cloudy skies a distillery is nearby.:cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NeutrinoWave

NeutrinoWave

Posted
Posted
Hi,

I use this site to find dark spots :-

need-less light pollution

Click on any site & it will simulate the light pollution there. It's helped me to find some nice dark spots.

Jeff

Yes have used it to find my LVM = 4.33

5*Log10(D1/D0)

If you plug numbers into the above then you can determine your LVM of your complete setup

eg If you have a 10in Newtonian Reflector then D1=10

For the average human dilated pupil D0=0.25 in

The formula then gives a value of 8.0103

Add 8.0103 to my LVM for my Area ie Wolverhampton = 4.33

Then the faintest object I will see on a clear night sky in Light Polluted Wolves would be

8.0103 + 4.33 = 12.3403 Apparent Magnitude stars or DSOs

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hunterknox

hunterknox

Posted
Posted
Just tried to look at you web page and says not found?

Hmm, I might have to mention that to my technical colleague. Maybe it's because the landing page is https (because that's where our users sign in).

You can get directly to our sky quality meter map here and there's a naked eye equivalent here. If they don't work for you let me know and we'll definitely have to figure out what's going on.

At the moment most of our readings are from our home turf around Cheshire (because we're based around Macclesfield Astronomical Society) but there are some other clusters dotted around and we'd love it if people wanted to add more.

At the moment we're working on overlays for the satellite data that you see on other maps, so we should be able to compare how that correlates with the picture on the ground. We're also looking at alternative colour schemes based on feedback from our users.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.